More than 52 percent of Iceland’s population rejected joining the European Union. On August 30, Icelanders held a referendum at the initiative of the governing Social Democrats. The question concerned whether to resume negotiations on EU membership. Icelanders rejected the resumption of negotiations — in other words, they rejected the prospect of joining the EU.
In Armenia, many will say: What do Icelanders have to worry about? They live practically in Europe, on their own island, can travel to continental Europe and return at any time without a visa, so they can afford to reject membership. Let them be in the place of Armenians — in the place of people living in Armenia — and then we’ll see whether they would reject it or dream of joining.
Who knows, perhaps that would indeed be the case. But the fact remains that the majority of Icelanders are not dreaming of membership; they are even rejecting the idea of discussing the matter and negotiating with Brussels. And the reason, perhaps, is not that they live so close to the European Union that they fail to recognize a good thing when they see one.
On the contrary, Icelanders know exactly what that “good thing” is, and therefore understand that it is not EU membership itself. It is about the ability to organize one’s own life in one’s own country — competence, know-how, civility, morality, dignity, tolerance and education. Icelanders understand that none of these things comes with EU membership, nor do they disappear without it. They either exist, or they do not. And if they do not, EU membership will merely conceal the emptiness rather than fill it.
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This is the main lesson Icelandic society offers Armenian society: one must be capable of organizing one’s own life, carrying out reforms, and reaching agreement on the values underpinning coexistence within society, on legal principles and on political culture. Icelanders have done this, and it is from the height of that self-confidence that they assess the EU — not from a position of inferiority and weakness.
Hakob BADALYAN
